Radó Dezső: Parks and Forests - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1992)
brium. On the hillsides of Buda the forest also protects the fertile soil: wherever the trees are cut, erosion by water and wind begins removing the topsoil. Büdaszentlőrinc The saddle where the Children’s Railway crosses Budakeszi út is called Budaszentlőrinc. It is accessible by bus 22 from Moszkva tér. The area is more like a park than a forest as many species (Macedonian pine, maple, juniper, medlar) have been introduced and a dense network of trails developed. The ruins of Budaszentlőrinc, the main monastery of the only order founded in Hungary, the Order of St. Paul, can be found here between Budakeszi út and Hárshegyi út. The walls of a tower-like building are preserved. The Hungarian kings generously supported the order with endowments, donated properties and privileges. Prominent members of the order included György Fráter, who played a historical role in the 16th century and László Báthori who lived as a hermit in the nearby Hárs Hill cave. In 1827,300 years after the Mohács disaster, the wall remains were still as tall as a man. Some parts of the monastery and cloisters were exposed at that time. Further excavations were carried out in the autumn of 1949 and in 1958, when archaeologists identified four phases of construction and unearthed parts of a polygonal building north of the church. In 1964 László Zolnay conducted an excavation by the separate tower mentioned above. Later he uncovered a small church with an enclosed sanctuary dating from the 13th century and which constituted the oldest core of the Budaszentlőrinc Monastery, the largest monastery of Hungary at the time. HARS (LINDEN) hill The hill was obviously named after its linden trees, but strolling up on the pathway from the Pauline monastery mostly oak trees are encountered. The linden, bearing a foliage almost regular cone-shaped when viewed from a distance, is still worth mentioning. Although linden is not a forest-forming tree, it often occurs on detrital slopes. It is native to Hungary, one species being called Hungarian linden. Another reason to walk up to Hárs Hill is to visit the lookout tower, inaugurated in 1988 and named after the forest engineer Károly Kaán (1867-1940). He is renowned as the initiator of a tree41
